Glia and ALS

Glia and ALS

26Feb

2014

Glia and ALS

On February 10, 2014 the ALZFORUM (www.alzforum.org) highlighted work by a team from Columbia University showing that astrocytes, a specialized type of glia cell, cause the death of motor neurons in an in vitro study of cells from ALS patients. The authors of the study are now trying to identify the toxic factor that astrocytes release to cause this cell death, which could result in a new screening method for potential drugs for the treatment of ALS.